But a growing number of footballers are mastering the game despite living with blindness or low vision.

Just days after vice captain of the Hawthorn AFL Blind team Ned Brewer-Maiga celebrated a historic win against the Bulldogs, he is touring schools in Katherine, a place where children and adults are three times more likely to be impacted by vision impairments.

With Hawthorn's community manager Adam Moedt and two volunteers, he is meeting hundreds of students over two days to build community empathy.

And answer some burning questions such as: "how do you play if you can't see?"

Answer: "We use our hearing, the footy makes a high pitched noise, it is the only one you'll see that needs to be charged," Mr Brewer-Maiga told students at St Joseph's Catholic College yesterday.

"There is a bell behind the goal post, lots of commentary and communication with team mates.

"And if we win a goal, there is lots of cheering."

A vision impairment wasn't always the case for Ned Brewer-Maiga.

He played plenty of sport prior and was going for his driving test, but at 18 a genetic condition kicked in leaving him with just 10 per cent vision.

"I lost 80 per cent of my vision in a week," he said.

"I can see you well," he said to a student, "but I can't see anything to the side of you, it's just a small tunnel of vision."

Blind football isn't the only sport providing vision impaired athletes a space to play the sport they love so much competitively - it is actually late to the game.

The World Blind Cricket Council was established in 1996 and in 1998 the International Blind Sports Federation held its first world game.

But it's players like Ned Brewer-Maiga who are showing young emerging athletes disabilities should not be a deterrent.

Students were handed bright yellow visual simulators and asked to play a game of football in Mr Brewer-Maiga's shoes.

"Leave them on for as long as you possibly can, because I can't take my impairment off," he said.

The prevalence of blindness and visual impairment in the Northern Territory is far more reaching than almost anywhere else in the nation.

Australia is the only developed, high-income country where trachoma, an infectious eye disease still exists.

While it has been eradicated in many parts of the country, it can still be found in remote parts of the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia.

Hawthorn Football Club community manager Adam Moedt said the Katherine-only workshops are aimed at building empathy in the community.

"We know about the prevalence of visual impairment in the NT. This is giving kids the opportunity to see what it's like for a lot of other kids here that might be blind or living with low vision.

"Blind sport has taken off with technology improvements and we are really hoping this sparks a rush and maybe even encourages someone to take up a sport."

While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox each Friday at 6am from the Katherine Times. To make sure you're up to date with all the news, sign up here.